FCO EVALUATIONS OF OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE STRATEGIC PROJECTS
The FCO undertakes evaluations in line with the principles outlined in Her Majesty’s Treasury Guidance
for Evaluation (Magenta Book) and Department for International Development’s (DFID) policy for
Evaluation of International Development.
We evaluate our projects to ensure that they have delivered their purpose effectively and efficiently; to
learn from what worked well and not so well; and to ensure that our overall strategic goals are being
delivered.
To do this we use the definition of evaluation agreed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), which is widely accepted by the international development community ie:
the systematic and objective assessment of an on-going or completed project, programme or policy, its
design, implementation and results in relation to specified evaluation criteria.
We evaluate all Official Development Assistance (ODA) Strategic Projects with a budget of over
£500,000. These evaluations are carried out by an external, independent team (ie a team not involved
with the Programme under which the project was funded). The team is usually made up of colleagues
from around the FCO with the appropriate skills and experience.
We also evaluate a sample of Projects with a budget of £100,000 - £500,000. These can be evaluated
by colleagues from within the Programme, but independent of the project itself. Both thresholds follow
the same process.
In general, the FCO carries out so called “Ex-post” evaluations of its Projects. The OECD defines this
as an:

Evaluation of a development intervention after it has been completed
Note: It may be undertaken directly after or long after completion. The intention is to identify the factors of success
or failure, to assess the sustainability of results and impacts, and to draw conclusions that may inform other
interventions.
The timing of each evaluation is dependent on the nature of the Project and the requirements of the
overall Programme from which it is funded. We would normally expect an evaluation to take place no
sooner than six months after the end of the project.
Evaluations are carried out using the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria1:
1

Relevance: The extent to which the aid activity is suited to the priorities and policies of the
target group, recipient and donor.

Effectiveness: A measure of the extent to which an aid activity attains its objectives.

Efficiency: Efficiency measures the outputs -- qualitative and quantitative -- in relation to the
inputs. It is an economic term which signifies that the aid uses the least costly resources
possible in order to achieve the desired results.
http://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm

Impact: The positive and negative changes produced by a development intervention, directly or
indirectly, intended or unintended. This involves the main impacts and effects resulting from the
activity on the local social, economic, environmental and other development indicators. The
examination should be concerned with both intended and unintended results and must also
include the positive and negative impact of external factors, such as changes in terms of trade
and financial conditions.

Sustainability: Sustainability is concerned with measuring whether the benefits of an activity
are likely to continue after donor funding has been withdrawn. Projects need to be
environmentally as well as financially sustainable.
In addition the FCO will look at the overall management of the Project. The reports will highlight key
lessons to be taken from the Project and will make recommendations for future work.
Terms of Reference for each evaluation are agreed by the Programme Manager/SRO with the
Evaluation Team prior to any work beginning. These set out clearly the management arrangements for
the evaluation, including objectives; background; scope/issues to be studied; methodology; how the
reports will be written and disseminated; and the key timings involved.
Timetable for FCO ODA Project Evaluations
This plan covers projects completed during FY 12/13. The planned dates for the evaluations are
subject to local constraints, and could need revision. The reports will be published on .gov.uk within
two weeks of the conclusion of the Evaluation.
Programme
Project Number
Project
Prosperity
Programme
PPY MEX 1003
Climate Action Plans for
Mexican Municipalities
Sustainable Forest
Management in Turkey:
Enhancing Implementation
Capacity of General
Directorate of Forestry
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Management Appraisal and
Inspection System for
Chinese State-owned
Enterprises
Increasing Turkey’s Efficiency
in Implementing National
Policy Aimed at Combating
Violence Against Women
Strengthening of Legislative
and Oversight Capacities of
National Parliament of Serbia
in the area of Economic
Legislation
- and
Open Parliament
PPY TUR 1009
PPY CHN 1015
Reuniting
Europe
Programme
PEU SRE 000806
PEU SRE
Cost of
Project
£153,000
Planned Evaluation
Dates
September 2013
£104,000
December 2013
£176,000
December 2013
£104,000
January 2014
£146,000
December 2013
PEU SRE 000803
PEU SRE 000731
PEU SRE 000717
PEU SRE 000719
PEU SRE 000715
PEU SRE
Human Rights & PHR CHP
Democracy
Programme
PHR KAA 121301
PHR BTG 120016
PHR MUL 220013
PRH VNH 111301
Arab
Partnership
Programme
PNN APF
Local Media on the EU Path
Phase II (Turkey)
Parliamentary Strengthening
Programme (Montenegro)
Targeting Gaps &
Opportunities; Progress and
momentum in BiH Rural
Development (Bosnia &
Herzegovina)
Accountable government
budgeting process (Bosnia &
Herzegovina)
Increasing Good Practice in
the Albanian Parliament
DIV RE Programme for
Croatia (portfolio of projects)
China Review of 12/13
Funding from Human Rights
and Democracy Programme
(7 projects)
Kazakhstan Review of 12/13
Funding from Human Rights
and Democracy Programme
(5 projects)
Enabling Zimbabwe Citizen
Observers to Monitor the role
of money in the General
Election, followed by
Advocacy
Providing assistance to and
strengthening legal restriction
for prisoners under sentence
of death (multi-country)
Bring together NGOs, the
media and government to
implement legislations
relating to protection of
journalists and create a more
enabling environment for the
media to operation in Vietnam
Pan-Arab Multi Platform
Participative Media Debates
and News Practitioner
Capacity Building (Egypt,
Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco,
Algeria)
£105,000
January 2014
£152,000
February 2014
£111,000
October 2013
£127,000
October 2013
£108,000
November 2013
£519,000
July 2013
£610,000
September 2013
£211,000
February 2014
£198,000
December 2013
£183,000
December 2013
£125,000
December 2013
£1.2m
December 2013